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Page 5 The Southern Israelite Americas Best-Loved Jew Passes The Story of Nathan Straus’ Life, from Documents in the Private Family Archives By JOSEPH BRAININ The death on January 11th of Nathan Straus, the grand old man of American Jewry, closes one of the most significant chapters in the his tory of this country. It was he who lifted philanthropy into the realms of true humanitarianism. He was the great giver who turned charity into social reconstruction. Much can be said of Nathan Straus, the man who forever felt the pulse-beat of humanity, and no eulogy would appear dis proportionate. But Nathan Straus’ life, when told in sober and almost statistical style, expresses the genuine greatness of this best-loved Jew of America better than any lyrical apotheosis. The article by Joseph Brainin, which is here presented, gives us an all-embracing picture of this practical dreamer, whose memory will live forever, as long as the great humanitarian institutions that he built will stand. Mr. Brainin’s articles is based on material which the family of the late philanthropist placed at his disposal that he might obtain authoritative data.—Editor. It was not unitil the beginning of the nineteenth century, when the Palatinate of Bavaria became, under Napoleon, strip of France, that the .lews of that region adopted family names. But long be fore that the ancestors of Nathan Straus were well- known among the Jews of Bavaria, though of course not by the name of Straus. From father to son the Biblical names were handed down: Jacob, son of Lazarus, Solomon, son of Jacob—all sturdy, hard-working landowners, respected by their neigh bors regardless of race or creed. The ancestor who can he regarded as the founder of the Straus name was Jacob Lazar, later Jacob Straus. A man of culture and education, well-versed in the Hebrew tongue and its literature, and speaking German and French fluently, he played an important role in the Sanhedrin convened by Napoleon in 1806. His sterling qualities were so unanimously recognized that he was made one of the Committee of Nine of that great body. The father of Nathan Straus, Lazarus, a grand son of Jacob Lazar Straus, had a distinguished career which carried his name beyond the borders of Bavaria. After the revolutionary movement of 1848, viewed with suspicious eyes by government authorities (he did participate in the fight for con- . stitutionalism and democracy), he embarked for America, in 1852, at the age of forty-three. With the proceeds of the sale of his property in Bavaria— he had been a prosperous landowner and grain deal er—he started a general merchandise business in Talbotton, Georgia and two years yater brought his family from Germany. Besides his wife there were Isidor, a youngster of nine, Hermina, a girl of 'even, Nathan, aged six, and Oscar, only three and a half. The Strauses were the only Jewish family in the town. Oscar Straus commented on this as follows in his memoirs: “This at first aroused some curiosity among those who had never met persons of our race or religion before. I remember hearing some one doubt that we were Jews, and remarking to my father, who had very blond hair and blue eyes, that he thought all Jews had black hair and dark complexions.” Lazarus Straus knew Hebrew well, being able to read the Bible in the original. “One of my earliest recollections is hearing my father take passages from the Old Testament and translate them literally for the information of visiting ministers,” writes Oscar Straus. A fine and estical personality, a con stant student yet detached from the practical world was Lazarus Straus, a sturdy descendant of a line of robust ancestors. Mrs. Lazarus Straus, called “Miss Sara” by her servants, in true Southern style, was a quiet, loving woman, always busy, always help ful. She loved flowers, and soon developed a beautiful flower and vegetable garden which became a kind of practical argicultural train ing ground for friends and neigh bors. She was a winning, charm ing personality, beloved by all and adored by the servants, all slaves who had been hired but who pleaded that they be bought, in order to belong to such wonderful masters. The Strauses did not believe in slavery, but finnally consented to buy the slaves. Lazarus Straus, however, prepared them for an in- depent existence, teaching them trades. The Straus children were soon sent to school. Nathan and Oscar attended the Baptist Sunday School of Talbotton for two years and fol lowed the reading of the Bible with great earnestness. Later Nathan entered the Collingsworth Institute, a secondary school for boys near Talbotton. In 1863, during the War, the family moved to Columbus, Ga. It might be mentioned that at the out break of the Civil War, Lazarus * Straus joined the Fourth Georgia Kegiment. The eldest son, Isidor, then withdrew from school to lend a hand in the store. Nathan Straus already showed unmistakable signs of business talent. In his book “Under Four Administrations" Oscar tells this significant story: “We were now in the midst of the Civil War, and money, measured in gold, was worth about five cents per dollar. My brother Nathan seemed to be affected by this into constant scheming for making pocket money. He was fifteen years old, and out of school hours helped father in the store, but he seemed to be in need of more pin money. He finally hit on a plan that proved quite lucrative. He collected or bought up pieces of hemp rope and sold them to a manufacturer. Hemp was very scarce and much needed. With the proceeds he bought a beautiful bay pony, which he and I prized more than any possession we ever had, be fore or since.” The close of the Civil War found the Straus house ruined: all the cotton, which constituted the family fortune, had been burned. In the early part of 1865 the family moved to New York, with about $25,000 in good United States money—little more than enough to pay the creditors. Lazarus Straus was then a man of fifty-six. He had lived a hard life in Germany, sacrificing comfort for convictions. In his maturity he had come to a new world, started his existence anew, played the game of life fairly and squarely, and due to circumstances beyond his control found himself, after thirteen years of toil and labor, exactly where he had started. Illustrative of Lazarus Straus' character is the following story from the family archives: “Almost his (Lazarus') first act (on his arrival in New York in 1865) was to call on his creditors and ask for a (Continued on page 12) Nathan Straus